Fury Room

Life can be tough sometimes. Whether caused by the polluted commute, problems at home or work-related grievances, we are all vulnerable to stress.

We’ve all had to resist certain stress-induced temptations, such as throat-punching that reckless driver, smashing your cheating ex’s smartphone to pieces or throwing a tomahawk at your boss’s face.

Good news! Your restraint has been rewarded by the opening of Vietnam’s first-ever rage room, in Hanoi.

Health and Safety

The concept is simple; you smash stuff up until you feel better.

At Fury Room (300 De La Thanh, Dong Da, Hanoi), there are actually several rooms, with bigger spaces for groups of two or more.

The room is filled with glass bottles, ceramic vases, plates and cups plus a TV or two. The amount of smashable stuff depends on how many people are coming with you.

The standard price is VND198,000 for one, VND368,000 for two, VND688,000 for four and VND99,000 for each extra person added on. The price includes all the items to be destroyed, weapons, safety equipment and a drink.

The safety equipment will be fine for most customers; but larger people might struggle to get a jumpsuit on (I ended up wearing mine like a cape).

Before going in, you are fitted with shin guards and arm pads, armoured gloves, rubber boots, body armour, and a helmet with a large visor. It all sounds great, but it still didn’t stop our photographer from getting a small piece of glass through the boot and into his foot.

There’s a first-aid kit behind the reception desk.

We Hate Boys

Before we start, another group is finishing up. Four girls, all still in secondary school.

“How do 14-year-old girls have so much stress to release?” I ask, somewhat naively.

“We hate school,” says one.

“And boys,” adds another, gripping her crowbar so tightly, I feel a genuine shiver of terror.

The manager tells us they’ve only been open for six months, but they’re already seeing patterns develop in the customer base.

After gearing up and entering the room, there is a choice of weapons with which to release your fury. Baseball bat, golf club or crowbar; they are all good for different things.

The golf club slices through old beer bottles like nobody’s business, while the hooked end of the crowbar is perfect for smashing a TV until nothing is left except dust and sweat.

As for the baseball bat; you haven’t lived until you’ve played baseball by throwing Bat Trang ceramics into the air for your Partner in Rage to smash into oblivion. Just try not to accidentally take out the CCTV camera.

Hulk Smash

It’s hard work, but there is a very real sense of release — the health and safety gear, combined with the physical nature of the activity, makes it a very sweaty experience.

Most of the debris is used in a productive way; it gets taken to construction sites which need solid waste to help fill and level out large holes in the ground.

The owner, Nguyen Ngoc Thinh, got the idea from an American rage room he saw online. After amassing piles of personal problems, he figured smashing up junk made more sense than smashing up his own possessions.

Whatever your reason for wanting to release stress, this is one activity which needs to be added to your Hanoi to-do list.

Fury Room is on the 8th floor at 300 De La Thanh, behind 500 Xa Dan, Dong Da, Hanoi. Open daily from 9am until 10pm. For more information, visit furyroom.vn or call 0946 030013

Ted landed in Vietnam in 2013, looking for new ways to emulate his globetrotting, octo-lingual grandfather and all-round hero. After spending a year putting that history Masters to good use by teaching English, his plan to return to his careers adviser in a flood of remorseful tears backfired when he met someone special and tied the knot two years on. Now working as a wordsmith crackerjack (ahem, staff writer) for Word Vietnam.